REGINA — A Saskatchewan man who was sentenced to life in prison for the deaths of two Mounties and the shooting of a third officer is appealing his conviction.

Curt Dagenais was convicted earlier this month on two counts of first-degree murder in the shooting deaths of constables Marc Bourdages and Robin Cameron, as well as the attempted murder of Const. Michelle Knopp.

Defence lawyer Bill Roe said there are three reasons for the appeal, including the judge's instructions to the jury.

"During the course of the trial, the issue arose as to whether or not provocation would be put to the jury. The trial judge ruled that it was a matter of law and he didn't feel that there was sufficient merit in the defence to put it to the jury and subsequently didn't instruct the jury on provocation," said Roe.

"One of the other grounds is that the conviction is not supported by the evidence," he said.

The third reason is that the judge made a mistake when he handed Dagenais a life sentence on the attempted murder conviction -- which is believed to be the first time such a sentence has been given to someone convicted of attempted murder, said the lawyer.

Dagenais, 44, was given three life sentences to run concurrently.

Dagenais -- who court heard had been flagged as a police-hater -- admitted that he shot the RCMP constables in 2006 but claimed it was self-defence.

During the three-week trial, the jury heard evidence the three officers were trying to arrest Dagenais for allegedly assaulting his sister in Spiritwood, Sask., on July 7, 2006. Dagenais and his sister both went to police to file a report.

The dispute broke out because Dagenais' parents were involved in a bitter divorce that had divided the family.

His sister testified that Dagenais was angry and yelling when he shoved her, then tried to hit her with his truck outside his mother's house in Spiritwood.

Dagenais was still sitting in his truck outside his mother's house when RCMP arrived. He sped off, sparking a 30-kilometre chase on country roads that ended with a shootout on a remote dirt trail.

Dagenais testified that the officers shot at him first, so he grabbed a rifle from under his truck seat and blindly returned fire to save his own life.

Bourdages and Cameron were both fatally shot in the head.

Knopp was wounded by bullet fragments from blasts that hit the windshield of her police vehicle. The Crown said one bullet came within a centimetre of killing Knopp, and Dagenais likely would have kept shooting had he not fired off all eight rounds in his rifle.

Crown prosecutor Scott Bartlett argued it was Dagenais who surprised the RCMP with gunfire, and he then lied in court to get away with murder.

Dagenais said he believes his conviction and sentence sends the wrong message that people don't have a right to file complaints with police or ask them for help.

Roe said he still has to review the court transcripts, but he doesn't believe the appeal will be dropped.

"Not unless we thought there was absolutely no merit, but I don't think that's going to happen. In the case of a murder appeal -- I'm not saying the judge made an error -- but it's quite common to have an appeal," said Roe.

He estimated it could take eight to 10 months before the case lands in Saskatchewan's Court of Appeal.

"In the meantime (Dagenais) is a serving prisoner. He will probably in all likelihood be transferred to the penitentiary and will begin to serve his sentence there," said Roe.